In your 2/6 Dispatch section, there was a letter from a Hyman Auslander ("Same-sex marriage already solved"). In it he mocks another writer's earlier contention that there should be "a referendum for the entire state of New Jersey to decide" the legality of same-sex marriage.

He states as proof that "this issue" was already settled (gasp) 5,000 years ago. What Mr. Auslander offers as "proof" are Bible passages Leviticus 18:22 and 29:13. Other "proofs" found in Leviticus are 19:19 ("Do not wear clothing of different kinds of material") or 19:27 ("Do not cut your hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of our beard") or 19:33 ("When an alien lives with you in your land, do not mistreat him" or 21:13 ("The woman he marries must be a virgin, he must not marry a widow, a divorced woman")

There are other Leviticus ridicu-laws, such as not eating pork or shellfish or if a farmer plants two crops, he will go to hell. Also should you ever have a bad thought about your parents, you will be put to death in the center of the city. Leviticus has as much validity and legitimacy to "settle" any issue as does the Wizard of Oz.

As far as gay marriage, I do agree that a referendum on gay marriage is wrong. Gay marriage is a matter of equal rights and is a civil right protected by the constitution and not subject to referendum. Should we have voted on slavery, black civil rights, women's suffrage, or interracial marriage? Of course not. They are civil rights, and we do not vote on civil rights. We are America.